Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Unwanted One~Script
Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms. ~George Eliot
Dear Teddy,
After reading an email from a friend explaining who you were and why you needed help, I immediately deleted.
To a 28 year old single woman you seemed to be an inconvenience, needing constant care, affection, and you possessed a great risk of dying-why would I want to put that in my life? But you were still in the back of my mind.
My friend somehow knew this and after much persistence and I caved. I offered to take you in. You were only five inches long, had a short stubby tail, and I told everyone you looked just like a rat. You did, and when they saw you they agreed. Your story was remarkable almost unbelievable-that you were pulled out of a tailpipe at a car dealership, alive, but with your eyes still closed.
Three weeks into taking you in you still had no name, and I was planning on giving you away after I weaned you from your tiny bottle. You were not part of my single lifestyle, always on the go, never at home, traveling across the country and taking road trips out of Dallas as much as possible. How would you fit in, how could I take care of you and ME?
Then you began to grow from a mousy fur ball to a striking kitten with a rich velvet coat of grey, I began to watch you grow and play. You were wild-not having a single brother or sister to play with. You earned the name Azul Diablo, the blue devil because of the bluish/grey fur and because of your spunkiness and the way you reacted when you didn’t get your way.
We were unsure of what you would end up looking like look like, how big you would get, what colors your eyes would eventually turn. You were handsome -Even the vet you had to go to in west textas called you a “fancy cat”. Mom and I laughed when he said that, never telling him your roots. I loved taking you to the pet store as a kitten and showing you off! Strangers often admired you and always asked what breed you were. I would proudly tell them I had no idea, and I would proceed to tell them your outlandish story.
Each day with you brings laughter and love that I had forgotten came with owning a pet. Laughter that I hadn’t had in long time, love I hadn’t felt for something of my own. You trusted me and depended on me and I did not fail. From the day I woke up from my nap and realized you were nestled inside my hoop earrings -to the crying and dramatic begging that would go on when you saw your bottle, your personality was coming out in full force- and you became mine. I named you Teddy.
Three years later you are still my baby, although you weigh over 15 pounds. People still admire your coat, but they are also impressed with your size, you are a big boy. Dear Teddy, thank you for showing me unconditional love,, changing my life, and and bringing me back to reality.
Dear Teddy,
After reading an email from a friend explaining who you were and why you needed help, I immediately deleted.
To a 28 year old single woman you seemed to be an inconvenience, needing constant care, affection, and you possessed a great risk of dying-why would I want to put that in my life? But you were still in the back of my mind.
My friend somehow knew this and after much persistence and I caved. I offered to take you in. You were only five inches long, had a short stubby tail, and I told everyone you looked just like a rat. You did, and when they saw you they agreed. Your story was remarkable almost unbelievable-that you were pulled out of a tailpipe at a car dealership, alive, but with your eyes still closed.
Three weeks into taking you in you still had no name, and I was planning on giving you away after I weaned you from your tiny bottle. You were not part of my single lifestyle, always on the go, never at home, traveling across the country and taking road trips out of Dallas as much as possible. How would you fit in, how could I take care of you and ME?
Then you began to grow from a mousy fur ball to a striking kitten with a rich velvet coat of grey, I began to watch you grow and play. You were wild-not having a single brother or sister to play with. You earned the name Azul Diablo, the blue devil because of the bluish/grey fur and because of your spunkiness and the way you reacted when you didn’t get your way.
We were unsure of what you would end up looking like look like, how big you would get, what colors your eyes would eventually turn. You were handsome -Even the vet you had to go to in west textas called you a “fancy cat”. Mom and I laughed when he said that, never telling him your roots. I loved taking you to the pet store as a kitten and showing you off! Strangers often admired you and always asked what breed you were. I would proudly tell them I had no idea, and I would proceed to tell them your outlandish story.
Each day with you brings laughter and love that I had forgotten came with owning a pet. Laughter that I hadn’t had in long time, love I hadn’t felt for something of my own. You trusted me and depended on me and I did not fail. From the day I woke up from my nap and realized you were nestled inside my hoop earrings -to the crying and dramatic begging that would go on when you saw your bottle, your personality was coming out in full force- and you became mine. I named you Teddy.
Three years later you are still my baby, although you weigh over 15 pounds. People still admire your coat, but they are also impressed with your size, you are a big boy. Dear Teddy, thank you for showing me unconditional love,, changing my life, and and bringing me back to reality.
Making the Video
The first thought I had when I read the assignment was that I had nothing to write about. I was panicking already! After reading the articles that were assigned this week, the one that I found the most beneficial was “Digital Storytelling Cookbook” by Joe Lambert. Then I decided to go to visit www.storycenter.org, and I then became panicked again. These videos were so professional, so profound, so deep. I thought back on my life, and could not think of anything that was as amazing as the videos that I had just watched. I am not married, have no kids, grew up in a small town in Texas, nothing that exciting has happened to me. But I continued to think about it, on Tuesday night I woke up several times thinking about my video-what was I going to do? I kept going back to a story about how I obtained my cat, and I decided that I would do a story about him and how he changed me. It wasn’t that exciting, and I was concerned people would think that I was strange creating a video over a cat! I started to write, and the words came out, I was surprised how much time I spend writing, editing, writing and editing. After receiving some comments over my piece, I edited some more! I had a problem with some pictures, there were some I would like to have used that were on my but my camera is broken, and being the first week of school, hadn’t had time to get it fixed. Luckily I have a few albums on Snapfish, and that is where I got many of my pictures. Overall, the experience has been beneficial-although as a teacher I assign my students projects such as this, I have never done one myself. I can see now the effect and usefulness this can have on students. Since I knew that I was having to share this with my classmates (and the world!) I spent more time on it and made sure it was up to my standards. I spent many more hours on the project than I expected! I can see how if you had your students do this in the classroom-they would want to be experts on the topic and would want to create a video that was up to their standards.
Web Conference Thursday August 26, 2010
Web Conference Thursday August 26, 2010
The conference had its positives and negatives, but overall, as always more of a positive experience. The negatives were that it took awhile to get any information, and that some people were discussing things that were not related to our class. While we are all in need for more time in the day, this use of the discussion board was not beneficial to anyone. There were lots of questions which made me feel better, because after all of the updates in the syllabus, I was glad that I was not the only one who was confused! The information that did come from Dr. Abernathy was extremely helpful and helped me as I finalized my assignment for Week 1. Another great thing that happened is that by being on, I chatted with some of my classmates and joined a group for the upcoming projects. That was a relief to get that settled. Although there were too many people that joined the webcast, I was one of the late ones that joined, so I am glad that I was accepted because it is important with the online classes to get as much direction and information as you can-however you can get it.
The conference had its positives and negatives, but overall, as always more of a positive experience. The negatives were that it took awhile to get any information, and that some people were discussing things that were not related to our class. While we are all in need for more time in the day, this use of the discussion board was not beneficial to anyone. There were lots of questions which made me feel better, because after all of the updates in the syllabus, I was glad that I was not the only one who was confused! The information that did come from Dr. Abernathy was extremely helpful and helped me as I finalized my assignment for Week 1. Another great thing that happened is that by being on, I chatted with some of my classmates and joined a group for the upcoming projects. That was a relief to get that settled. Although there were too many people that joined the webcast, I was one of the late ones that joined, so I am glad that I was accepted because it is important with the online classes to get as much direction and information as you can-however you can get it.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Closing Remarks from EDLD 5301
Whew! I cannot believe that we are in our last week of research, but wow, I feel like I have learned so much in these past five weeks. The most important thing I have learned throught these weeks is that no action research plan is perfect, and that there is constant room for improvement. Because I am still waiting to meet with my site mentor and my principal, this is a relief, because my action research plan may need to be revised.
To be an effective action researcher, it is important for one continue to reflect throughout the project, to share their work and findings with others, and to have the mindset that although we are educators, we are all learners and that we will always be learners.
To be an effective action researcher, it is important for one continue to reflect throughout the project, to share their work and findings with others, and to have the mindset that although we are educators, we are all learners and that we will always be learners.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Action Research Plan
Purpose:
1. How might group collaboration, technology-based learning (with resources such as the use of the internet), and cross curricular integration help to ensure higher levels of thinking and meet curriculum standards in the school?
2. How can collaboration and follow up sessions improve teacher willingness to use technology in the classroom?
-
Goals and Objectives/Outcomes of the Research Investigation
1. Teachers
a. will use different types of technology to improve teaching and share findings with students.
b. will employ a interdisciplinary approach towards lessons that will integrate technology.
c. will increase their level of technology proficiency.
2. Administration:
a. will observe students participating in use of technology in a more effective way
b. will see students participating and collaborating increasingly
3. Students
a. will use technology resources in the classroom, both independently and collaboratively
b. will connect their learnings to other subjects
c. will encounter new technologies will solve problems regarding the technology
d. will be able to access learning at any time on any day.
4. Parents
a. will have the opportunity to communicate with teachers at any time on any day.
b. will observe their students learning the appropriate tools toward becoming 21st century learners
5. Community
a. Will see participation in technology through wikis and blogs-and
b. will see students take a positive role in their “cyber-citizenship” that is needed in their 21st century future.
Activities Designed to Achieve the Objectives
Throughout the eight month journey, I see much tweaking occurring. After meeting with my team, site supervisor and mentor, they may have ideas that will work more effectively than my own. At this moment, I have not been able to reach my supervisor or my mentor. On my campus, and on my grade level, there is a need for cross-curricular teaching. The focal point in third grade in social studies revolves around communities all year long. Knowing this, I thought I would use the continents to base my interdisciplinary teaching on. I feel that by students selecting a continent, we can cover many TEKS in each subject. Students will get to choose their continent which will give the students ownership of their learning.
Here are some ideas that I thought would work for my class. For example, while working on place value students could research 5 to 10 different cities in a certain country. After selecting the cities, the students find out what the population is of each city. Students then could put these cities in order from smallest to largest, they could write out the numbers in expanded form, in written form. After figuring out the populations the students could cross over to social studies and decide which city was rural, urban, or suburban, and could make a video on PhotoStory using pictures of the places and describing why or how each one fits into the category. In science the students can learn with a group about the different ecosystems that are on their continent. They can do this by selecting one area (of the continent), and can create a PowerPoint with others in their group. The outcome of the group project will be for the students to share their findings with the rest of the class. Some things the PowerPoint may include are: an example of a food chain, a food web, animals that are carnivores, predators, prey, omnivores and other important vocabulary that pertains to an ecosystem. A sample writing activity would be to create an advertisement persuading people to come to a country/city on their continent. This can be done by using Animoto.
We will first review the continents with my students and explain that after exploring each continent, they will select the continent of their choice and will use that continent and explore it in depth throughout all their other subjects over the course of the year. I will start off slow, and especially in the first six weeks, spend much time reviewing basic rules of using technology, and delve into cyber ethics as they will be learning how to publish on the internet in a proper way.
Resources and Research Tools Needed for Data Gathering
The course discussion board has been a great place to begin researching what inquiry to do and to ask others in the class what their thoughts/ideas were. Some have done past work in cross curricular activities and have graciously shared their findings with me.
Find articles online that correlate with my action research question
Spend time reflecting and discussing with other team members, students, parents, administrator, and technology leader.
Draft Timeline for Completion or Implementation of Activities
The first six weeks will be spent reviewing the seven continents by using UnitedStreaming.com, Promethean Planet, Internet resources, and books from the library. This will ensure that all students will have knowledge of each continent so that they can make a choice about which one they want to learn the most about. Additionally, the first six weeks we will spend time reviewing how to use the computer, how to handle the laptops, how to shut down, how to save, etc. I will also introduce and thoroughly discuss cyber-ethics and other things like verifying websites, although at first the students will be using websites that are only approved by me.
The main goal I have for the first six weeks is to instill the idea that we are all a community of learners. One way for this to happen is for students to share their ideas with others in a constructive, safe environment. During the first week I would like for my students to spend time writing on Moodle (around seven minutes, if it is up and running) explaining what they like to learn about, what is their favorite subject, what are they nervous about, what they want to learn this year), then have them reply to at least one other person’s writing by writing something that inspired them about the other’s writing, then what questions they have for that person (based on their reflection).
The second through the fifth/sixth six weeks will be focusing on creating one project each six weeks. Students that are more driven and want to work on projects at home may, and they may have time to complete more projects.
The second through the fifth six weeks will be taking whatever subject we are studying. I expect one project per six weeks, will allow students to incorporate their continent in as many subjects as time will permit and without overload.
Some projects will be done independently, and some will be done with a group. By using different mediums throughout the year, students will become experts on different types of technology and will work together and assist each other.
Some of the products I expect will occur:
Photostory
PowerPoint
Animoto
Wordle
Jing
Storybird
Persons Responsible for Implementation of the Action Research Plan
I am the main person responsible for the implementation of the action research plan. I plan to use my own third grade class to conduct the action research. Hopefully some other teachers on my team will join after we meet in a few weeks to discuss the upcoming school year. A few of my team members will be eager to join in on this inquiry, and possibly the others will join after seeing our progress.
Process for Monitoring the Achievement of Goals and Objectives
Take time on a consistent basis to research on the topics of technology integration and interdisciplinary teaching
Have frequent dialogues with teachers, students, principal and technology leader to assess the direction of the research inquiry
Assessment Instruments to Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Action Research Study
1. Take field notes during discussions to record initial data and continue on throughout the year.
2. Observation of students using technology and collaborating with others.
3. Cyber ethics/community of learners
4. Collect documents such as student work, student reflections, student interviews, digital pictures, and quantitative data to measure growth.
5. Students will journal on blog and in their personal journal about their experiences throughout the year.
6. Review notes and websites from BLC conference I recently attended and continue to research new ways to integrate technology.
7. Create a survey for students to complete and for teachers, if others decide to join.
Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
1. How might group collaboration, technology-based learning (with resources such as the use of the internet), and cross curricular integration help to ensure higher levels of thinking and meet curriculum standards in the school?
2. How can collaboration and follow up sessions improve teacher willingness to use technology in the classroom?
-
Goals and Objectives/Outcomes of the Research Investigation
1. Teachers
a. will use different types of technology to improve teaching and share findings with students.
b. will employ a interdisciplinary approach towards lessons that will integrate technology.
c. will increase their level of technology proficiency.
2. Administration:
a. will observe students participating in use of technology in a more effective way
b. will see students participating and collaborating increasingly
3. Students
a. will use technology resources in the classroom, both independently and collaboratively
b. will connect their learnings to other subjects
c. will encounter new technologies will solve problems regarding the technology
d. will be able to access learning at any time on any day.
4. Parents
a. will have the opportunity to communicate with teachers at any time on any day.
b. will observe their students learning the appropriate tools toward becoming 21st century learners
5. Community
a. Will see participation in technology through wikis and blogs-and
b. will see students take a positive role in their “cyber-citizenship” that is needed in their 21st century future.
Activities Designed to Achieve the Objectives
Throughout the eight month journey, I see much tweaking occurring. After meeting with my team, site supervisor and mentor, they may have ideas that will work more effectively than my own. At this moment, I have not been able to reach my supervisor or my mentor. On my campus, and on my grade level, there is a need for cross-curricular teaching. The focal point in third grade in social studies revolves around communities all year long. Knowing this, I thought I would use the continents to base my interdisciplinary teaching on. I feel that by students selecting a continent, we can cover many TEKS in each subject. Students will get to choose their continent which will give the students ownership of their learning.
Here are some ideas that I thought would work for my class. For example, while working on place value students could research 5 to 10 different cities in a certain country. After selecting the cities, the students find out what the population is of each city. Students then could put these cities in order from smallest to largest, they could write out the numbers in expanded form, in written form. After figuring out the populations the students could cross over to social studies and decide which city was rural, urban, or suburban, and could make a video on PhotoStory using pictures of the places and describing why or how each one fits into the category. In science the students can learn with a group about the different ecosystems that are on their continent. They can do this by selecting one area (of the continent), and can create a PowerPoint with others in their group. The outcome of the group project will be for the students to share their findings with the rest of the class. Some things the PowerPoint may include are: an example of a food chain, a food web, animals that are carnivores, predators, prey, omnivores and other important vocabulary that pertains to an ecosystem. A sample writing activity would be to create an advertisement persuading people to come to a country/city on their continent. This can be done by using Animoto.
We will first review the continents with my students and explain that after exploring each continent, they will select the continent of their choice and will use that continent and explore it in depth throughout all their other subjects over the course of the year. I will start off slow, and especially in the first six weeks, spend much time reviewing basic rules of using technology, and delve into cyber ethics as they will be learning how to publish on the internet in a proper way.
Resources and Research Tools Needed for Data Gathering
The course discussion board has been a great place to begin researching what inquiry to do and to ask others in the class what their thoughts/ideas were. Some have done past work in cross curricular activities and have graciously shared their findings with me.
Find articles online that correlate with my action research question
Spend time reflecting and discussing with other team members, students, parents, administrator, and technology leader.
Draft Timeline for Completion or Implementation of Activities
The first six weeks will be spent reviewing the seven continents by using UnitedStreaming.com, Promethean Planet, Internet resources, and books from the library. This will ensure that all students will have knowledge of each continent so that they can make a choice about which one they want to learn the most about. Additionally, the first six weeks we will spend time reviewing how to use the computer, how to handle the laptops, how to shut down, how to save, etc. I will also introduce and thoroughly discuss cyber-ethics and other things like verifying websites, although at first the students will be using websites that are only approved by me.
The main goal I have for the first six weeks is to instill the idea that we are all a community of learners. One way for this to happen is for students to share their ideas with others in a constructive, safe environment. During the first week I would like for my students to spend time writing on Moodle (around seven minutes, if it is up and running) explaining what they like to learn about, what is their favorite subject, what are they nervous about, what they want to learn this year), then have them reply to at least one other person’s writing by writing something that inspired them about the other’s writing, then what questions they have for that person (based on their reflection).
The second through the fifth/sixth six weeks will be focusing on creating one project each six weeks. Students that are more driven and want to work on projects at home may, and they may have time to complete more projects.
The second through the fifth six weeks will be taking whatever subject we are studying. I expect one project per six weeks, will allow students to incorporate their continent in as many subjects as time will permit and without overload.
Some projects will be done independently, and some will be done with a group. By using different mediums throughout the year, students will become experts on different types of technology and will work together and assist each other.
Some of the products I expect will occur:
Photostory
PowerPoint
Animoto
Wordle
Jing
Storybird
Persons Responsible for Implementation of the Action Research Plan
I am the main person responsible for the implementation of the action research plan. I plan to use my own third grade class to conduct the action research. Hopefully some other teachers on my team will join after we meet in a few weeks to discuss the upcoming school year. A few of my team members will be eager to join in on this inquiry, and possibly the others will join after seeing our progress.
Process for Monitoring the Achievement of Goals and Objectives
Take time on a consistent basis to research on the topics of technology integration and interdisciplinary teaching
Have frequent dialogues with teachers, students, principal and technology leader to assess the direction of the research inquiry
Assessment Instruments to Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Action Research Study
1. Take field notes during discussions to record initial data and continue on throughout the year.
2. Observation of students using technology and collaborating with others.
3. Cyber ethics/community of learners
4. Collect documents such as student work, student reflections, student interviews, digital pictures, and quantitative data to measure growth.
5. Students will journal on blog and in their personal journal about their experiences throughout the year.
6. Review notes and websites from BLC conference I recently attended and continue to research new ways to integrate technology.
7. Create a survey for students to complete and for teachers, if others decide to join.
Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Reflection of Videos
I enjoyed watching the three videos of the school leaders discussing action research. Although all three had different suggestions throughout their discussions, there were two ideas that were mentioned across the board. The first one was how data was a necessity. Dr. Chargois said that there was a new science as how to take the data that is provided; and how it can be used daily to positively impact instruction for tomorrow. The other idea that the three leaders suggested that was important was that the action research question that you select needs to be of relevance to you. Dr. Lewis warns that if you cannot apply your action research to you own situation, it is not doing you any good. He also goes on to say that the more interested you are in the question, the more focused you will be on the outcome and in return your students will benefit from the research.
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